My view at the beach

Today I'm enjoying a different kind of creativity.  A storm is coming in over the ocean.  I'm always amazed at God's creation when I'm at the beach!

I miss being able to create at home but I love the ocean.

A different type of creativity

I haven't been crafting this past week because I've been organizing.  I decided to change the way I store my stamps and dies.  I'm combining them into one container by theme. I'm updating my AirTable data at the same time.  My goal is to actually USE what I have and stop buying new things (at least for a while).

I've also found a lot stamps, dies, and other things that I haven't used for a while (and some not ever).  I'm sure there are others who will give them a good workout and I'll recoup a little for those goodies and I can't pass up. I'll be setting up a virtual yard sale and I'll be sure to post the link here.

Keep crafting.  Susan

Quick card tonight

We had some bad weather move in tonight – a little bit of hail, 50+ MPH winds, rain, and a tornado warning. But it passed over pretty quickly.

The background on this card was made by picking up the “extra“ gilding polish from my Altenew chevron stencil. I believe it’s called the “kiss method“. Where I laid this cardstock against the original background (see my last post for the original card).  And yes, I am still working with the Altenew Fabulous Florets. I have a whole stack of these in different colors so I’m sure you’ll be seeing them again (and again).

In the background you see some things that I love having on my table tonight. The colorful box with the red hearts was my Mother’s Day gift from my grandson so it will always have a cherished place in my room. The “blessed” sign is new from Hobby Lobby; it was 50% off. I don’t typically buy decorations like this but it just spoke to me (because I am blessed). The brackets are from IKEA and they are used to connect pegboard to a table top. I don’t have a plan for them yet but since my husband and son were up by the IKEA store I asked them to pick them up for me. They are only $4 for a set of two and they work great if you don’t want to put pegboard on the wall. I’m thinking of putting smaller pegboards on my crafting table for the things I use most often (but honestly I don’t really need to). Or I might use them to connect a bulletin board to my table so I can display some of my favorite cards.

 Thanks for stopping by. Susan

Zoom creating!

Today I'm crafting with my friends via Zoom.  We usually meet at the church for a day of creating but until things are back to normal we get together on Zoom.  I actually like it because I don't have to try to figure out what I'll need or just pack up the whole room!

It's 4:00 and we've been meeting since 9:00 am.  Here is what I've accomplished:

I used Altenew stamp sets Beautiful Heart, Beautiful Peony, and Disty Print.  These were inspired by a video by Jennifer McGuire.

I did do 8 of these ... and it only took me 7 hours.   Actually one of the ladies had trouble connecting and I spent an hour helping her figure that out.  Then my husband was at the store and needed me to send him some information on what he was supposed to pick up and coupons.  By then it was lunch time.  This afternoon, hubby was power washing the house and needed to be to do this "real quick" and then that ... but I'm glad that task is done.  Now, maybe, I can sit on the patio and not worry about spiders dropping in my hair.

I’m adding these two cards to my post which I finished later today. The larger flowers are My Favorite Things Flowers in Bloom And the smaller flower is from Elizabeth Craft Designs A Field of Flowers.  The Hello sentiment is from ECD Sentiments 2.

The design of these cards are from also from a Jennifer McGuire video. I’m not that great with embossing powder but the pink card is sweet. I may do some more of those later.

I hope you have found creative ways to interact with family and friends during the stay-at-home orders.  It is important to our health and to our creativity.  Stay safe, Susan

Altenew June 2020 Inspiration Challenge Entry

I'm sure you've figured out by now that I'm a fan of Altenew's products.  I've got an order coming in the next week - YAY!

Jaycee Gaspar posted a challenge (his first - and my first time playing along).  Here's the inspiration picture from the Altenew card blog post ; be sure to go over and look at the great cards Jaycee created.
   Love the rich blue-green and browns.

I started to do a masculine card but with all these Fabulous Florets on my table, I naturally gravitated to using them!

Here's my card based on Jaycee's inspiration picture and his two cards.

Most of the products on this card are Altenew - The flowers and leaves are from the Fabulous Florets set and are stamped in Iceberg, Ocean Waves, and Dusk ink.  The background was inked with Macho and Rocky Shore using the Chevrons stencil.  I did add some Creative Expressions Gold Treasure metallic gilding polish and a few generic crystals.  The sentiment is from Altenew's stamp sent Dearest Friend and inked in Espresso.  The blue bow and twine are from a card kit from Stamps of Life.

Not quite the masculine card I thought I would try but I like it.  This card will be sent in my next box to Cards for Soldiers.  This organization sends boxes of cards (and other goodies) to deployed military around the world so they can write home.  If you love making cards and want to help the morale of our brave men and women serving our country and their families back home, check out this organization on Facebook.

Thanks for taking a look ... stay safe and do some creating!  Susan

More Fabulous Florets

My last post showcased Altenew Fabulous Florets and here’s some more cards. Aren’t these pretty!  I really like the size of these flowers. I still have a stack of these flowers and I can’t wait to see why designs I’ll create next.

I’m looking forward to this weekend because Saturday I’ll be Zoom scrapping with my group.

Enjoy your weekend, stay safe, and keep hope. Susan

Altenew Fabulous Florets

Altenew is one of my favorite stamp companies.  Their stamps are good quality and I love their ink color families - it makes stamping these layered flowers so easy. 

This card is using one of my new stamp sets from them - Fabulous Florets.  I spent the day Sunday stamping all these flowers - blues, purples, rose, coral, yellow, and white.  I can't wait to get some time to play with the other colors.  I really like the size of the flowers.

I blended some Distress Oxide inks from Ranger in the background and then spattered some ink and added a few crystals.  A simple design but they came out perfect.

What is your favorite stamp company?